Liner notes

I read Hokuto no Ken before, it’s a deep work, and I have memories of my blood surging, my body jumping, and tears coming. So, this time, when I spoke with the staff about the series, I wondered, “am I a good choice for the music?”, and ended up feeling very awed. But as I spoke to everyone in the staff, they told me, “this time, we want to put an emphasis on human drama”, so that being the case, they probably found my method of approach, and I accepted the work gratefully.

I tried Raou first, then Toki (coincidentally I’m a Toki fan), then Shuu…this being a work filled with characters who overflow with charm, I couldn’t write more. There were a lot of highlights everywhere. Musically, the question “where will the biggest highlight be?” was a welcome source of annoyance. There’s drama in just short scenes, but there are practically no scenes where it should end blandly. They made dozens of shots there, so it was already difficult. More than the music, I guess there were considerable scenes where I ground my teeth and wanted to throw away the script.

This time, to begin with, while I created the music for “Legend of Raou – Chapter of the love martyr”, I read the original work once more. And my blood surged, my body jumped, my tears came. No matter what next era comes, my memories of it will never fade. My being in charge of the music for such a fascinating work gives me feelings of joy. Everyone who watched this film, both fans from long ago and new Hokuto fans, I never stop hoping that you can enjoy the music along with the work.